This invention relates to a lightsensitive silver halide color photographic material, and more particularly to a method for processing a lightsensitive silver halide color photographic material which can form a dye image having an excellent storage stability to a prolonged storage after processing with omission of a washing process step.
In general, a lightsensitive silver halide color photographic material (hereinafter referred to as a lightsensitive material) comprises a base or support having coated thereon 3 types of photographic silver halide emulsion layers which are selectively subjected to optical sensitizations so as to have lightsensitivities to blue light, green light and red light respectively. In such lightsensitive material, there is employed as a color developing agent, for example, an aromatic primary amine color developing agent to develop exposed silver halide grains and a dye image can be then formed by the reaction of the so-produced oxidized product of the color developing agent with a dye-forming coupler. In this method, a phenol- or naphthol-cyan coupler, a 5-pyrazolone-, pyrazolinobenzimidazole-, pyrazolotriazole-, indazolone- or cyanoacetyl-magenta coupler and an acylacetamido- or benzoylmethane-yellow coupler are usually employed for forming cyan, magenta and yellow dye images, respectively.
Where such couplers are to be applied to a lightsensitive material, it is generally known that a coated silver amount can be reduced by the use of a high speed reactive coupler. It is also known that use of a high speed reactive coupler is very much favourable with regard to enhancement of desilverization, improvement in poor color recovery and further rapid processing.
Particularly, in a lightsensitive material for color photographic paper, it may be readily inferred that rapid processing or processing stability may be greatly improved by applying a high speed reactive yellow coupler to a blue-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer which is coated over the base at the nearest portion thereof and is most required for improved developability.
However, it has been found as a result of the present inventor's studies that, when a lightsensitive material with a high speed reactive yellow coupler is processed, there is presented the problem which optical discoloration of the yellow dye image after processing and lowered density at a high temperature and a high humidity tend to bring about easily. Moreover, the present inventors have found that there may be readily brought about such a poor storage property with time in the yellow dye image, particularly when there are conducted color development, bleach-fix and washing.